njohnson747
10-22-06, 06:50 PM
http://img313.imageshack.us/img313/4937/04usssanfranciscodamageeg5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
It's been nearly two years since my cousin Jeff (in the US Navy) sent me pictures of this disaster at sea. He had few details he could share. All he could say was "the sub hit an underwater mountain". But after watching an online newscast from Guam and reading blog entries from crewmembers I got the rest of the story.
The USS San Francisco - a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine - was submerged at a depth of 525 feet and transiting at maximum speed (on January 7th, 2005) when it hit a seamount near the Caroline Islands. The crew described the moment of impact like a scene from "The Matrix" where everything moved in slow motion. The sub went from going full throttle to a complete submerged stop. Everyone including the captain was thown against bulkheads but miraculously only one crew injury was fatal. What could have been a chaotic scene turned into a picture of disaster preparedness in action - the crew was well trained and the sub limped back to it's home port of Guam under it's own power.
A subsequent investigation concluded that the accident could have been avoided through more careful navigation. Commander Kevin Mooney was relieved of command. The crew had nothing but good things to say about the commander's actions, however, and found the conclusions of the Navy panel dubious at best. The satellite survey maps of that part of the South Pacific were inadequate and had not been updated due to a lack of funding...for the maps - not the satellite surveys.
The sub had been on a training excercise en route to Australia and those waters were "murky" on the maps. The maps at the time of the incident only showed the potential for seamounts in the general area - not the presence of one. Still there were 20 crewmembers who were cited for meritorious actions in the wake of the undersea collision:
Lt. Jeff M. McDonald, cited for a "flawless weapons off-load" in the wake of the accident, including removing two torpedoes that were in the bow tubes and had to be taken out with emergency handling procedures, and later handling the first submarine drydocking in Guam in more than 15 years.
Addtionally Senior Chief Machinist's Mate Danny R. Hager, who directed the stabilization of the ship on the surface and, though injured himself, designed a temporary oxygen system from the ship's oxygen banks to provide oxygen to more seriously wounded crewmen. He also was credited with advising the captain on how to operate some of the damaged systems to get the ship back to Guam.
The sub was refitted with a temporary hull and repaired. It's current status as a seagoing vessel is unknown to me. However the pictures speak for themselves - it was a nightmare at sea and a testiment to ship and crew that any of them survived the collision with "an underwater mountain".
The blue tarp covering the bow of the sub is meant to hide the sonar array (whose capabilites are classified). I saw one pic of it, however - just before it was covered up. It looked like a broken jigsaw puzzle.
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/5131/sottodt1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img320.imageshack.us/img320/5639/shipssn711sanfranciscodamagedlgfm6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/7854/06ssn711bl8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
It's been nearly two years since my cousin Jeff (in the US Navy) sent me pictures of this disaster at sea. He had few details he could share. All he could say was "the sub hit an underwater mountain". But after watching an online newscast from Guam and reading blog entries from crewmembers I got the rest of the story.
The USS San Francisco - a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine - was submerged at a depth of 525 feet and transiting at maximum speed (on January 7th, 2005) when it hit a seamount near the Caroline Islands. The crew described the moment of impact like a scene from "The Matrix" where everything moved in slow motion. The sub went from going full throttle to a complete submerged stop. Everyone including the captain was thown against bulkheads but miraculously only one crew injury was fatal. What could have been a chaotic scene turned into a picture of disaster preparedness in action - the crew was well trained and the sub limped back to it's home port of Guam under it's own power.
A subsequent investigation concluded that the accident could have been avoided through more careful navigation. Commander Kevin Mooney was relieved of command. The crew had nothing but good things to say about the commander's actions, however, and found the conclusions of the Navy panel dubious at best. The satellite survey maps of that part of the South Pacific were inadequate and had not been updated due to a lack of funding...for the maps - not the satellite surveys.
The sub had been on a training excercise en route to Australia and those waters were "murky" on the maps. The maps at the time of the incident only showed the potential for seamounts in the general area - not the presence of one. Still there were 20 crewmembers who were cited for meritorious actions in the wake of the undersea collision:
Lt. Jeff M. McDonald, cited for a "flawless weapons off-load" in the wake of the accident, including removing two torpedoes that were in the bow tubes and had to be taken out with emergency handling procedures, and later handling the first submarine drydocking in Guam in more than 15 years.
Addtionally Senior Chief Machinist's Mate Danny R. Hager, who directed the stabilization of the ship on the surface and, though injured himself, designed a temporary oxygen system from the ship's oxygen banks to provide oxygen to more seriously wounded crewmen. He also was credited with advising the captain on how to operate some of the damaged systems to get the ship back to Guam.
The sub was refitted with a temporary hull and repaired. It's current status as a seagoing vessel is unknown to me. However the pictures speak for themselves - it was a nightmare at sea and a testiment to ship and crew that any of them survived the collision with "an underwater mountain".
The blue tarp covering the bow of the sub is meant to hide the sonar array (whose capabilites are classified). I saw one pic of it, however - just before it was covered up. It looked like a broken jigsaw puzzle.
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/5131/sottodt1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img320.imageshack.us/img320/5639/shipssn711sanfranciscodamagedlgfm6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/7854/06ssn711bl8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)